


Intervention

by Raven_Hallowryn



Category: Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Emotional Roller Coaster, Found Family, Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Venom Symbiote (Marvel), Interventions, Multi, No Beta, OT4, Post-Movie, anne needs to chill, canon-compliant mentions of cannibalism, dan is a saint, eddie needs affection, everyone is poly, happy endings, little bit of world building, polyamorous undertones, relationship building, serious conversations, symbrock, what is brevity?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-01
Updated: 2019-03-01
Packaged: 2019-11-07 08:48:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17957378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raven_Hallowryn/pseuds/Raven_Hallowryn
Summary: A couple of months after the Life Foundation “incident”, Eddie’s life is finally getting back on track but Anne and Dan are concerned and determined to do something. There's some explaining to do.





	1. Too Good To Be True

**Author's Note:**

> Quick notes:  
> I'm very rusty, been a while since I published fanfics.  
> Post-movie with comic references.  
> Pretending the Cates run doesn't exist.

In hindsight, Eddie should have known something was about to go wrong.

Life was just going a little too well and since when did that ever last for him?

Three months after the Life Foundation “incident”, as they’d come to refer to it, and things were shockingly on track- he had work again, on print but respectable; he moved out of his bullet ridden apartment to a new, albeit plain, place not too far off; Anne now considered him a friend and was close to wrapping up the lawsuit against the Foundation, in which Eddie himself was one of the many plaintiffs; and Dan was more his fan than ever.

Yet, the best thing of all was that Venom was still with him.

In the first few days after the whole rocket debacle Eddie thought his alien parasite had burned up for good and thus had many mixed feelings.

On one end, his rational mind told him he should be happy to have his autonomy back, after all a man-eating alien was not something a sane person would want, much less trust, but on the other hand he felt like Venom had earned their respect by saving the planet and whatnot. That’s what he told himself anyway.

The truth was that he felt… incomplete.

If someone had told him three months ago that he would actually miss having a deranged voice in his head and eating at his organs, he would have called them crazy. Now he felt lonely, he grieved, the silence in his skull smothered his thoughts like a pillow over a victim’s face, and now that he was so vulnerably human again after sampling all of that power, Eddie felt irredeemably helpless.

It wasn’t until two days after the hospital cleared him to leave, with only minor burns and a couple of cracked ribs from the fall, that he started to suspect Venom was alive.  

Eddie Brock often gave the impression of being overly self-righteous, bordering on naïve and with temper issues, but he was not dumb, he couldn’t afford to be in his line of work. So when he started getting so hungry that he ended up purchasing and consuming the entirety of the candy aisle at Mrs. Chen’s, plus enough McDonald’s cheeseburgers to feed a small army, he knew his little parasite had to be lurking around and was surprised by the hope it gave him.

He was proven right when a day later a familiar growling voice woke him from his sleep.

He didn’t even remember falling asleep but he was sprawled over his desk with his face smashed onto his laptop keyboard when a sudden rumble of “ **HUNGRY** ” startled him awake.

As it turns out the symbiote had barely just survived but had taken quite a while to recover and show themselves again. Eddie was floored at how much fondness and relief he felt as he lumbered into the kitchen to eat a whole pint of brownie ice cream, much to his partner’s delight.

In the following weeks they started adjusting to what was now their life, there was a bit of a learning curve for both of them but the more they learned the more affection they had for one another.

Eddie discovered that the symbiote only used Venom as the name of their combined form and had no actual name of their own which was confusing as hell so he started calling them Venom anyway, or V, for sake of his own sanity; he also learned that V couldn’t actually read all his thoughts, they could read emotions and cast cursory glances on specific memories but they only actually heard thoughts that humans automatically projected and it was too much of a struggle to fully adjust to shielding his thoughts so Eddie decided to just roll with it (what was the worst that could happen that hadn’t already happened?).

On the symbiote’s side they learned that humans were actually more fascinating that they had initially given them credit for, they created things with no purpose other than aesthetics and they were so emotional, but V was mostly charmed by how they just seemed to accept and adapt to anything, and the way they often consumed resources and multiplied like viruses actually made V feel better about his own species.

The symbiote had a distinct fondness for Anne, kept saying they were going to win her back mostly just to amuse Eddie, they didn’t really intend to act on it. It took a long time to get over the dislike and distrust of anyone in a lab coat but V was also starting to develop an interest in Dan, mostly because the doctor just seemed to take everything stride with a calm and intelligence that most humans lacked (in their opinion).

Together they quickly discovered that although the symbiote did sleep, it was so little that it ended up with endless hours of boredom while Eddie slept so they were introduced to the concept of TV and internet and found ways to both amuse themselves and learn more about humans in general while Eddie snoozed.

They also discovered that shape-shifting to blend in was an actual thing the symbiote could do and they eventually took a liking to camouflaging themselves as articles of Eddie’s clothing, it wasn’t necessary but they both liked it, it felt safe and different from just bickering inside Eddie’s brain.

It felt good to be Venom. Despite the symbiote’s sarcastic and dark sense of humor (Eddie was still trying to figure out how an alien picked that up), Eddie was starting to love the strength and resilience that came with hosting a foreign life form, but most of all he was starting to _care_. V was so much more than just “an alien” now, despite the bickering (or maybe because of it) they were Eddie’s partner, his better half, and he had never felt more complete.

Eddie Brock liked to lie to himself but he had no illusions about his own feelings; from the moment he realized the symbiote was still alive he knew he was going to get attached.

Of course, he hoped those feelings would be of brotherly comradery, even after their first awkward fumbling with masturbation (punctuated with far too many remarks by the symbiote) he was still trying to convince himself that sharing a body was platonic… Until he started having inappropriate fleeting thoughts and dreams about inky tentacles and a growly voice giving him goosebumps with whispered praise. That’s when Eddie knew he was utterly and completely fucked.

Luckily, V got bored of waiting for their host to work things out on his own and just outright told him to stop being a pussy and embrace their weird romantic dynamic.

By then Eddie already knew that the symbiotes as a species didn’t usually _do_ relationships, so he realized it was a big deal that V seemed as affected by him as he was by them and it wasn’t just the feedback loop of mutual physical pleasure playing tricks on his head.

Hence, he decided to quit overthinking things and just embrace whatever it was that was happening, simply loving his Other was easier (and more fun) than trying to rationalize it.

At some point, Eddie actually feared he might be forming an unhealthy co-dependent attachment to his alien and might not be thinking straight, for all he knew Venom could have been as addictive as heroin, but in all honestly he didn’t really care.

If he overdosed on V then so be it. No regrets.

There was still the problem of secrecy though. Just days after the symbiote resurfaced, Eddie had to give them “the talk” about how if, and that was a very big IF, they needed to actually eat anyone it had to be someone who deserved it. Bad guys. People who abused and endangered other people.

V liked to think of it as a diet, or a culling. Eddie just tried to convince himself it was justice with a secondary purpose, in order to cope with the little nagging guilt in the back of his brain, guilt that he tried to silence by finding other food sources the symbiote might survive on besides actual humans.

Food issues aside, things were good for the next three months and Eddie didn’t think he’d ever be able to go back to being alone in his own head.

As for the symbiote, they couldn’t be happier to have found a host they could actually keep and one that actually treated them like a person instead of a tool or an experiment. The concept of _family_ , that had so foreign to them before, now felt like a necessity, a dream, a luxury, a need.

Life was good.

Things were going so well, in fact, that Eddie was now a regular guest at Anne and Dan’s house. At first it was just to discuss the Life Foundation lawsuit but it evolved into a comfortable friendship… Except for the fact that V wanted to be a part of it too, rather than a secret.

Yeah, in hindsight, Eddie should have expected shit to hit the fan at any moment.


	2. And There It Is

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick notes:  
> "Speech"  
>  **"VENOM SPEECH"**  
>  **«VENOM THOUGHTS»**  
>  _«Eddie's thoughts»_

When Anne invited him over one afternoon out of the blue, Eddie had no reason to think anything unusual was about.

It must have been Dan’s day off because he was home too, the couple invited him in and ushered him to the living room with two beers on the coffee table and one already half drained in the doctor’s hand. (V hated the taste of the stuff but liked the ‘floaty’ feeling it gave Eddie).

It was a perfectly normal sight but something felt off, some little thing just felt distinctly out of place and Eddie couldn’t tell if it was the beer at 4 pm in the afternoon or the fact that Anne had her court face on.

He took a seat on the couch, glancing at Dan in the opposite side of the table; the doctor wore a strange expression, there was something almost apologetic in his eyes as he gave a little wave and muttered a soft hello.

 **«WEIRD, EDDIE.»** The symbiote pointed out cautiously for his ears only.

“Ok, guys. What’s wrong?” Ever the reporter, he went straight to the point.

“Why do you think anything is wrong, Eddie?” Dan casually took a sip from his beer, Eddie couldn’t even remember ever seeing the doctor drink beer, even in all their shared hang-outs and dinners.

“Other than the fact that you two invited me over on a Thursday at 4 pm?” He gave Anne a pointed look and crossed his arms impatiently. “Well, the tension in this room could be cut with a knife.”

Anne sat next to Eddie, calmly angling her body towards him, her knee touching his in a show of newly reacquired comfort. She left out a soft sigh, something reluctant and uneasy.

“Eddie… You know we love you right?” Her hand landed on his knee but her tone was hesitant and worried.

“Er… Yeah?” Eddie’s eyes darted between the two of them, uncertain what exactly she meant but opting to go with friendship. “I mean, I sure hope so or else I’ve seriously misread our relationship.”

“We care about you, Eddie. You’re family.” Anne insisted, tone unchanged, her eyes so firmly focused on his that it was almost unnerving.

**«FAMILY IS GOOD. WHY SO TENSE, EDDIE?»**

“Nothing like bonding over saving the world together, huh?” Eddie chuckled, trying to make light of the situation and pointedly ignoring the voice in his head, even though his nails were digging into his arms in his effort to keep them casually crossed.

“That’s not it at all, Eddie.” The lawyer huffed, starting to lose some of her composure. “It’s beside the point, anyway.”

“What is the point then?” Still in the defensive, he watched the couple exchange a quiet glance. Now he was the one losing his patience. “I know that face Anne. Either I fucked something up again or you have really bad news.”

“Eddie, you know your secrets are safe with us.” Dan finally spoke up, leaning across the tiny wooden table to plant his own hand on Eddie’s other knee. “You know you’re in a safe space here, right?”

And then it all clicked together.

“Oh my God, this is an intervention!” Eddie practically shouted, flabbergasted and torn between laughter and outrage.

 **«WHAT IS AN INTERVENTION?»** The symbiote was pretty sure the definition they had was not applicable to the current situation.

 _«It’s a meeting where people gather to confront someone about something bad.»_ Eddie projected the thought out of reflex.

“Nobody is using that term.” Dan held up both hands in a peace-making gesture.

“But it is. I know an intervention when I see one.” Eddie looked at the two suspiciously, hoping beyond hope that this wasn’t about what he thought it was. “So, what is this about? I don’t seem to recall doing anything wrong lately, at least no more than usual.”

“Eddie…” Dan trailed off, clearly uncomfortable.

“We know.” Anne now had her court _voice_ on too. Never a good sign.

 **«THEY KNOW, EDDIE!»** The symbiote startled almost comically given that they didn’t really know what Anne even meant.

“About…?” He drew out the word, attempting to ignore the sheer glee in his Other’s mental voice.

“Eddie, you’re not as subtle as you think you are. We’ve known Venom has been around for a while now.” Yeah, that was definitely the court voice.

“Oh.” Eddie was stumped for second, mostly because there were a lot of loud emotions and yelled words being projected in his head and it was thoroughly distracting.

 **«TOLD YOU, EDDIE! TOLD YOU! YOU TOOK TOO LONG.»**  Venom gloated.

“We were hoping you’d tell us yourself but since you wouldn’t, here we are.” Dan’s voice was softer and much less stern than Anne’s.

“Why would you think they’re back? They burned up to save me, you saw it.” Eddie motioned at Anne, now a little desperate to keep up the lie.

**«WHY ARE YOU LYING, EDDIE? ARE YOU ASHAMED OF US?»**

_«I’m trying to protect you, love.»_

“Did I, Eddie?” From where Anne had been standing on the fateful day of the battle, she couldn’t see much besides flames and a small black blob falling and dissolving into the inferno.

“Fine, but you saw that explosion. How would they survive?” The reported stubbornly insisted, despite the obvious displeasure of his Other that felt like something sour on his tongue and slimy on his insides. 

“How did _you_ survive?” The lawyer countered with ease.

“Because they sacrificed themselves for me.” Eddie tried not to yell, he really did, but it felt so wrong not to acknowledge Venom’s sacrifice.

“That’s a good point but irrelevant right now. When did he come back?” Jesus, she was on her feet and pacing now, legitimately pacing as if she was questioning a witness on the stand!

“I’m pretty sure he, they, never left. Did they, Eddie?” Dan sensed the sparks in the air and, as usual, took it upon himself to diffuse things with his most soothing doctor voice, going as far as correcting the pronoun.

A heavy silence weighed in the air as all eyes settled on Eddie. Even the symbiote was silent, although projecting a sizzling amount of expectation.

“…I wasn’t trying to lie to you. I swear.” It was Eddie’s turn to stand up, palms out, slowly placing some distance from an increasingly angry Anne. “We wanted to tell you but we didn’t for your own good.”

“Our good? What about your own good, Eddie?” The court voice was finally gone, but the pissed off tone wasn’t much better.

Eddie flinched, the last time he heard her talk like that Anne was leaving him. The symbiote still remained quiet, now clearly entertained and conjuring fond feelings for Anne that he thought were very uncalled for at that moment.

“I’m fine. Never better.” He retorted with a dismissive wave.

“Eddie, that thing is dangerous!”

 **«SHE IS RIGHT, I AM.»** Venom replied nonchalantly in response to Anne’s yelling.

 _«Wrong context.»_ Eddie shot back at him, irritated.

“That ‘thing’ saved us all!” He added out-loud as accusatory as Anne sounded.

**«THING?!»**

_«She said it first. What are you getting mad at me for?!»_

“That doesn’t make it any less dangerous!” She racked her fingers through her perfect hair, tangling it in her obvious frustration. “I read the Life Foundation reports, the hosts all died eventually, Eddie!”

“I know that but you don’t understand!” Eddie basically whined, he wanted this talk to just end already.

“It was killing you, Eddie! Massive organ failure, remember?” She shot back, poking at his chest.

 **«I WAS FIXING IT!»** The symbiote was outraged that this was still an issue.

“They were fixing it. Did fix it.” He defended.

“You wouldn’t need fixing if it hadn’t caused the problem in the first place.”

 **«THEY THINK I CAUSED THAT?»** Venom’s tone shifted from boiling outrage to simmering confusion.

 _«You didn’t…?»_ Now Eddie was lost.

**«IT’S COMPLICATED!»**

“How is it complicated? You either did or you didn’t!” He spoke out-loud into the air so suddenly that the other two humans in the room nearly jumped.

“Eddie, what are you…” Anne’s confusion quickly melted into a sour expression, she edged closer. “You’re talking to it, aren’t you?”

“Anne, please calm down.” Dan finally intervened, placing his hands on his girlfriend’s shoulders before she decided to get physical.

“No! You saw what that thing was doing to him. What stops it from doing it again?!” Anne struggled against his hold, her lioness levels of protectiveness translated into fury.

Suddenly, before Eddie could even have a say in the matter, his body was engulfed in the living void of his Other.  Venom had to hunch somewhat in the enclosed room but the rows of needle-like teeth and the glare in their opal eyes were terrifying enough to make up for the crouched posture.

 **“I WAS FIXING IT!”** The roar was so loud the windows shook.

“You caused it!” To her immense credit, Anne didn’t even flinch. She stood taller and just yelled louder, ignoring the way Dan was attempting to hold her back. God, Dan really hoped the neighbors didn't call the cops about the noise.

**“I DIDN’T! I FIXED IT!”**

“You didn’t cause it? So his heart atrophied out of nowhere when you just so happened to be around?” Sarcasm dripped of Anne’s every word as much as spittle dripped from Venom’s nightmarish teeth with each shout.

Venom’s stubbornness abated for a moment, head tilted as they surveyed the woman in front of them. Her bravery was admirable, any other human would have pissed themselves or run off screaming bloody murder. They were still too annoyed to fully appreciate her attitude but they could relate to her violent need to protect Eddie and that gave them pause, cooled their tone.

**“…EDDIE WAS BROKEN BEFORE I GOT THERE.”**

“You expect me to believe…”

“Anne, wait.” Dan interrupted, sick of getting ignored and actually determined to get the facts straight. “What do you mean, he was broken?”

**“THAT’S WHAT MADE HIM A PERFECT HOST.”**

The reply was cryptic at best and the doctor could almost feel Anne vibrating with restrained anger.

“I need a little more information than that, buddy.” Dan let go of his girlfriend in favor of crossing his arms, his expression a mix between demanding and skeptical, very effectively hiding how terrified he felt right at that moment as a giant maw full of razor sharp teeth huffed in his face.

Before anyone could react, Venom reached out and grabbed Dan, but rather that maul him the symbiote just latched onto his shoulder, allowing inky blackness to retract from Eddie and seep right into Dan with enough force to shove him back into the couch. The doctor was having flashbacks of the time the alien nearly strangled him in the hospital but this… This was different.

Distantly Dan could hear Anne angrily shouting at the symbiote, he could hear Eddie telling her to calm the hell down, he could even feel Eddie's concern in back of his head like pins and needles, he felt his body connected to Eddie by a bridge of black oily fibers before his eyesight blurred and information starting spilling into his brain in ways he simply couldn’t describe.

Dan didn’t quite understand all of what the symbiote was imparting on him but a lot of it, from imagery to abstract concepts and emotions, was starting to make a weird amount of sense and Venom’s voice was echoing in his skull with a slightly desperate pitch.

**_«EDDIE’S BODY WAS EATING ITSELF, DISGUSTING WRONG CELLS SPREADING ALL OVER. HIS BODY BARELY HAD ANY DEFENSES TO FIGHT ME. IT STILL DID BUT IT WAS EASY TO ADJUST, HE MADE A GOOD MATCH AND I FIXED HIM IN RETURN.»_ **

The doctor took all that in before feeling the incredibly jarring and mildly disturbing sensation of something rummaging his brain, digging up memories and flipping through knowledge like a 50’s secretary in a noir movie flipping through paper files in a cabinet with too-long nails clicking on the manila folders.

And then the feeling of having his mind crowded and drowned in tar started to slip away with a strange sucking sensation. Dan found himself untouched and alone in his head once again, he was pretty sure he was shell-shocked by the whole experience but a weird sense of exhilarating fascination was drowning everything else out.

“Dan? Honey, are you ok?” Anne was leaning over him, hand on his shoulder, looking worried.

Eddie just sat back down heavily, shrugging apologetically, avoiding eye contact and muttering furiously under his breathe about _another_ talk about consent. 

“I think I just made about fifteen scientific breakthroughs.” Dan stated, amazement coloring each word.

“What? Dan, what are you talking about? Did it hurt you?” Anne made him look at her, made him focus on the seriousness of the situation.

“Huh?” It took a moment for the doctor to snap out of his daze. “Oh, no, no. They were just... I guess exchanging information is the best way to put it.”

“And?” The lawyer’s lips pursed with displeasure, worry and fear had dampened her rage a little but she still didn’t like how they were all acting like Eddie’s near death was just some innocent fender-bender.

“They are fascinating, Anne. I can’t even begin to process a fraction of what-”

“Dan, please! This about Eddie, remember?” She cut Dan off before he could start rambling.

“Oh right. It seems Eddie had cancer. Adrenal, I think, but it had metastasized to several other organs already.” He said it not with his calming doctor voice but with flippant certainty.

“I HAD WHAT NOW?!” Eddie had been in the process of trying to drink his beer (he was way too sober for all this bullshit) and ended up choking on it. Anne automatically began to pat his back.

“I’m surprised you didn’t notice the symptoms Eddie. Mood swings, depression, easy bruising, fatigue, dizziness, muscle cramps, high blood pressure?” Dan waved his hand as he named each symptom, patiently waiting for the reporter to connect the dots.

“Well, yeah, but I had just lost my fiancé, my home, my career, and could barely afford food and I had a neighbor that liked playing death metal at random hours of the night. Depression and all that jazz was kinda part of the package!” Not to mention he hadn’t had health insurance so he chalked it up to stress and got it into his head to try meditating.

**«DUMB. WHY DID I HAVE TO FALL FOR THE DUMB ONE?»**

Eddie could basically feel the imaginary eye-roll of the symbiote but could also sense concern from V, who was mildly disturbed that the human couldn’t even tell when he was dying.

“Shut up, you little tapeworm.” Eddie muttered to himself but it had no real bite at all. He faced Dan again, still too shocked to wrap his head around all the new information. “So I was just gonna die anyway even if V hadn’t showed up?”

“Eventually, yes.” The doctor nodded, keeping his attention fully on Eddie. “Not anymore though so don't worry.”

“Guess it runs in the family.” Flashes of his uncle and sister passed through the reporter’s mind; with a soft sigh of feigned reluctance he firmly projected the thought- _«Thanks for fixing that, love.»_

**«YOU’RE WELCOME, DUMBASS.»**

Clearly the symbiote was still pouting over being called tapeworm but the sentiment was genuine and a feeling of protectiveness and care flooded Eddie’s body like warm sunshine from within.

“So, what, we’re on the alien’s side now?” Anne inquired, throwing her arms in the air in frustration, she was the only one still standing and obviously too stubborn to let her defenses down just yet.

“Well, Anne, what they’re saying makes sense.” Dan defended, back in soothing physician mode.

“He was fine at our door one night and the next day he was a delirious zombie jumping in a lobster tank while sweating bullets.” The lawyer huffed and scowled but the anger was quickly draining away.

“I have a theory for that.” Dan waited for her to sit down but when she simply glared, he just continued. “I think Eddie’s immune system was trying to fight Venom off like an infection and Venom probably fought back enough to worsen whatever condition Eddie was in.”

 **“YES.”** The symbiote abruptly startled everybody by sprouting a hollow head right out of Eddie’s shoulder just to reply.

“My guess is that Eddie’s immune system was depleted enough for Venom to bypass it and somehow… Get in synch with him on a cellular level?”

 **“YES! YES!”** The discombobulated head bobbed eagerly with a vicious grin. **«I LIKE HIM NOW, EDDIE.»**

“Me too, bud.” Eddie muttered softly.

“They didn’t have any problems bonding with me.” Anne pointed out.

 **“YOU DIDN’T FIGHT. AND IT WAS TEMPORARY.”** And he had more practice with human bodies by then but she didn’t need to know that.

The inky snake-like appendage that was the symbiote’s head moved closer to Anne’s face, still irked and defensive but after a few months on Earth they had mellowed out enough not to bite everything that annoyed them. In fact, Eddie was pretty sure that if they had been physically capable of doing so they would have been pouting.

 “What about all the test subjects at the Foundation?” Anne directed the question at Dan but refused to back down an inch.

“…I’m not sure.” He was still working on that one.

**“HUNGRY.”**

“What?” Both Anne and Dan asked in unison.

**“WE WERE HUNGRY. WE SURVIVED IN NEAR STASIS ON THE COMET BUT HERE WE NEEDED ENERGY TO SURVIVE, HOSTS TO BREATHE, AND WE WERE HUNGRY. THE HOSTS WERE TOO FOREIGN TO US, THEY WEREN’T GOOD MATCHES BUT THEY WERE GOOD FOOD.”**

Venom was so indifferent that even Eddie winced little at that one, after all, he still had nightmares about Maria every once in a while. He was also pretty sure he shared a nightmare with the symbiote about lab rabbits, of all things.

“The scientists were feeding you. Skirth’s report shows they were giving you enough liquid nutrition to feed a whole garrison.” Anne’s stubbornness continued to chip away towards tentative caution and it showed in her tone, she wanted to believe but she didn’t think she should.

**“WRONG FOOD.”**

“Anne, it makes sense. This whole planet was alien to them and they were just trying to survive.” Dan waved at Eddie and the symbiote, trying to highlight his point. “And seeing as Eddie looks perfectly healthy now, I’d say Venom is telling the truth about fixing him.”

“Annie, I feel fine. Better than I’ve ever felt, if I’m being honest.” Taking the cue from Dan, Eddie jumped right in to reassure her.

“I could always do some tests to confirm it.” The doctor suggested cautiously when Anne seemed to be wavering but still not replying.

**“NO!»**

“I think he’s still bitter about the MRI.” Eddie snickered, much to his Other’s annoyance.

“There are other harmless tests we can do. Trust me, I’m not eager to have a repeat of the MRI scene either.” The doctor rubbed his neck self-consciously at the memory of a very enraged alien trying to kill him and then causing mayhem in the lab that he had to somehow explain to the hospital board without sounding like a lunatic.

“We’ll think about it.” Eddie replied diplomatically, he trusted Venom but a human medical opinion would be reassuring, if not to him then to Anne.

“Eddie’s health aside, what about this?” Anne dropped an open newspaper on the coffee table in from of Eddie, he didn’t even see where it came from but she wasn’t smacking him up the head with it so maybe she wasn’t too mad anymore.

He recognized the article. A blurry night picture of a hulking black being climbing a building decorated most of the page and the text featured witness statements of violence and brutality all very poorly framed and out of context, painting the creature like some cackling comic book villain. Ugh, Eddie really hated this sort of tabloid dribble, they were onto to something for a rare change but at least they could present the facts rather than dramatize everything so venomously.

**«HA! GOOD ONE, EDDIE.»**

Eddie chuckled at the praise, after several months together he had learned that the symbiote wasn’t as acerbic and sarcastic as they tried to project, they just had a unique sense of humor.

“Is this funny to you, Eddie?” Anne inquired rather tersely.

“Sorry, Anne, but even if this wasn’t tabloid garbage it’s still all out of context. We have been on our best behavior.” The reported assured with no small amount of pride.

“Witnesses saw Venom eating people, for crying out loud!”

And just like that Eddie realized that wasn’t anger he was hearing in Anne’s voice, no matter how hard she tried to make seem that way, instead it was the same frustrated concern he had gotten to know so well over the years.

“Only really, REALLY, bad people?” He had the good sense to look sheepish.

“Eddie…” Dan wince and shifted uncomfortably.

“No, I mean it. Only irredeemable criminals.” Or anyone who actually tried to kill them, being shot at tended to put a damper on anyone’s mood, but Eddie didn’t think he needed to point that one out.

“Nobody made you judge, jury and executioner, Eddie.” Anne groaned, exasperation building up again.

**“BUT EXECUTIONER IS ACCURATE.”**

“That’s not what she meant, V.” Eddie ended up shifting a little guiltily.

 **“BUT WE’RE GOOD. WE SAVE PEOPLE FROM BAD GUYS.”** Venom was clearing struggling with why this was a problem at all.

“At the cost of human lives?”

“Look, Anne, what’s the point of having all this power if you can’t do something good with it?” Finally Eddie felt determined and stared Anne straight in the eye, if anyone was going to understand what he meant it had to be her.

“Who are you to choose who’s guilty?” She muttered, clearly running out if arguments.

“It’s not exactly court, Anne. We catch them in act.” Eddie could have given her examples of what they had caught some of their victims doing but he didn’t think any of them could stomach that at the moment.

“Even so, eating people is still frowned upon.”

“V is just trying to survive in the food chain, Anne. I’m just making sure innocents don’t get caught in the process.”

“So first it was using the power to be a hero, now it’s about laws of nature?” 

“Can’t it be both?” The reported shrugged, his Other glancing between each speaker as if watching a particularly intriguing tennis match.

“How can you be so blasé about this?” She was tired of this fight but this was the real heart of issue- she didn’t think Eddie fully understood the weight of these decisions.

He knew the answer to her question though.

Eddie was perfectly aware that if allowed himself to think too deeply about the consequences and morality of their actions he’d have to stop but he also knew that rejecting Venom’s urges for too long would eventually become impossible, it was going to happen one way or the other so he figured it was better that it was on his terms rather than just letting a hungry carnivorous alien run amok. Besides, the copper taste in his mouth and the screams ringing in his ears were bad enough, if he thought too deeply about the actual physical aspect of ripping human flesh apart and eating it, he’d probably lose his mind.

He couldn’t really explain any of that though, it would be impossible to understand from the outside looking in.

“Anne, do you trust me?”

That was really all there was to it in the end, wasn’t it? Eddie didn’t really care about moral implications or any of that right now, he didn’t want forgiveness or understanding, he just needed trust.

“That’s beside the point, Eddie.”

“No, it’s not. We can’t stop, Anne, we can just try to control the circumstances. So are you going to judge us and cut ties with me again?”

“Of course not!” It was Dan that replied, quite vehemently, much to the lawyer’s chagrin.

The doctor had been quiet and observant for a while now, as had the symbiote, both sensing that intruding would have made things worse, but while V was just bristling with a myriad of intense emotions under Eddie’s skin (one of which was disappointment at the thought that Anne might not like them), on his end, Dan was carefully weighing each argument.

“Look, when you boil things down, the fact is we love Eddie and we’re not going to kick him out of our lives regardless of our opinion of what he and Venom do in private.” The doctor stated with absolute finality.

“Could have phrased that better, buddy.” Eddie was trying his best not to chuckle or make light of the situation, Dan had just said all he ever to hear but the lewd double entendre and all the kinky imagery it was conjuring up still curved his lips into juvenile grin.

**«I LIKE THE WAY YOU THINK, EDDIE!»**

“Grow up, Eddie.” Dan retorted without really meaning it, in fact he was struggling with a smirk himself.

**«GROW SOMETHING, EDDIE.»**

“Shut up! Oh no, not you, Dan.” Eddie waved vaguely at the grinning floating head whose tendrils were now sneakily creeping up his back under his shirt, making him shiver.

“I give up.” Anne sighed and flopped back down on the couch dramatically, somehow she managed to make it look graceful.  “I know when I’m outnumbered.”

“Anne, I don’t want this to change things.” Eddie begged softly.

**«THAT’S JUST UNREALISTIC.»**

“How can it not change things?” Anne unknowingly agreed with the symbiote.

**«SEE?»**

“The last time you left my life it was because I fucked up and lied, I was an asshole that needed to grow up and you were right, you deserved better.” Eddie no longer had any shame admitting his faults, he wasn’t quite there yet but thanks to his Other he knew he was a bigger person now and he wanted Anne to see that. “This time I’m being honest and trying to do the right thing, what else do you want?”

**“YES, ANNE, WHAT ELSE DO YOU WANT? YOU’VE BEEN WITH US, YOU SHOULD KNOW US BETTER THAN THIS."**

“Annie, you know you can’t hate him. At least compromise, God knows they are.” Dan pleaded, taking her hand in his and squeezing it in support.

She was quiet for a moment, waiting for all of them shut up while she gathered the nerve to do what she really wanted to do.

“…Ok, Eddie. Venom. I get it, I can’t say I like it but I understand your side.” Anne admitted at last.

“Thanks, Annie.” Eddie couldn’t help himself, he hugged her instinctively and smiled over her shoulder. “You too, Dan.”

“We’re here for you guys, Eddie.” The doctor moved around the coffee table and joined in on the hug, sandwiching Eddie between himself and Anne.

“Just don’t give me any details about your nights out, please.” Always the lawyer, Anne wanted to at least have plausible deniability.

 **“DELICIOUS.”** Venom had briefly felt left out but that lasted less than two seconds, now they intrigued by the novelty of the situation and all the touching.

“I just said I didn’t want details!” Anne shook her head, pretending not to have heard, but she didn’t move away.

 **“NO, THIS.”** The symbiote curled lazily around all three. **“DELICIOUS.”**

“Pretty sure they’re trying to express something else.” Eddie gave a little nervous laugh.

**“NO, WE’RE NOT. EDDIE IS MAKING DELICIOUS CHEMICALS.”**

“V…” The laugh gave way to warning, he could already see what the symbiote was thinking.

**“SIMILAR TO LAST NIGHT BUT BETTER.”**

“Oh my God, V, can you shut it?!” Eddie pleaded, mortified and turning a unique shade of pink from his neck to the tips of his ears.

“Oh. They’re tasting your hormones?” Leave it to Dan to immediately figure it out and to make everything sound both less humiliating and more at the same time. Somehow.

“Yeah, hormones, pheromones, neurochemicals, I don’t know, whatever you call it. If brains produce it, they taste it.” Eddie babbled rapidly, anything to pretend V’s lewd comment never happened.

Dan smiled like the cat that caught the canary, it eerily reminded Eddie of Venom for a split-second, so he was pretty sure the doctor was reading something between the lines that nobody else was. And Jesus Christ, they were both still sitting so close and being so cuddly, Eddie didn’t remember the last time he felt so feverish and he could hear his heartbeat thrumming in his ears.

“What?” Anne beat him to question, puzzled by the smile too, her arm still comfortably around Eddie’s shoulders.

“Oxytocin. Serotonin. Pleasure. Happiness. V likes the taste of it.” Dan’s own grip around Eddie’s waist tightened affectionately, it was reassuring and meaningful and… Well, Eddie didn’t want to think what else it was, he was dizzy enough already.

Despite blushing fiercely, Eddie made no move to push either of the other humans away, replying simply by muttering under his breath that he was more than just a snack.

 **“YES, BUT SNACK IS STILL ACCURATE.”** The symbiote replied cheekily.

Anne and Dan dissolved into giggles and snickers that caused Eddie to become flushed enough he thought his face might just spontaneously catch on fire.

V’s gooey head was now smaller, less threatening, weaving through the gaps between the bodies like a snake and wrapping around Eddie’s neck to nuzzle his skin affectionately with their opalescent eyes closing trustingly, enjoying the new source of what they dubbed as ‘happy chemicals’.

Despite his flaming cheeks, Eddie felt himself relax into the various touches that he hadn’t known he needed.

He wouldn’t have called himself touch starved, not with a devious little shape-shifting symbiote that had no qualms touching him all over, but he hadn’t really noticed that what he missed was the affection, the kindness, the support. That last one still felt very new.

Without another word Eddie wrapped his arms around both humans and finally held both of them back, pulling them as close as can be and trying desperately not to get misty-eyed by the sudden flood of emotion. The inky black head that nuzzled him picked up on his thoughts and sprouted a slimy tongue to lick away non-existent tears from his cheek, knowing Eddie’s blend of amusement and ticklishness would solve that problem.

“That’s… so weird.” Dan was clearly torn between the words ‘sweet’ and ‘gross’ and settled with something in-between.

“You get used to it.” Eddie laughed, shaking his head slightly to swat away the tongue without having to let go of the others. «Thanks, V.»

**«CAN WE KEEP THEM, EDDIE?»**

“What the hell, V?!” Again, Eddie was caught off-guard.

“What? What did they say?” Anne tilted her, curious and demanding.

**«LOVE, EDDIE. IT’S GOOD. LET’S KEEP THEM.»**

“They aren’t pets.”

**«WHY ARE YOU FIGHTING ME? I’M RIGHT! YOU WANT THEM.»**

“Of course, they’re my… friends.” Eddie’s hesitation hung in the air between them. What were they now exactly?

 **“FAMILY, EDDIE!”** Venom growled matter-of-factly.

“You know, we’d like to have a say in the matter.” Anne interjected with immense amusement.

**“OK, SAY YOU LOVE EDDIE.”**

“V, for crying out loud!” The blush was returning right on cue.

**“EDDIE, STOP BIRDING OUT!”**

“The term is chickening out, and I’m not.” He argued, casting nervous glances at the two humans that were oddly still holding on to him and not running for the hills.

**“KEEP THEM!”**

“I’m pretty sure V is the one winning this argument, Eddie.” Dan supplied kindly just as Eddie was about to bicker further. It was very effective.

“Wha-?” Eddie was stunned for so long that all he could do was swallow the knot in his throat and freeze in place.

 **“I THINK YOU BROKE HIM.”** Venom half-teased while the humans waited patiently for the words to sink in. **«EDDIE?»**

_«I’m ok, love. So very ok.»_

Eddie took a breath, his whole body turning to putty until he was melting to the back of the couch and dragging everyone with him. The humans smiled and went along, the symbiote curled in his lap like a satisfied blob cat.

“So now I’m the outnumbered one?” An attempt was made to sound playful and at ease. It came out better than he expected.

“Now you know how it feels.” Anne sassed into his ear. Great, he knew she was never going to let them live that one down.

“So, it’s really late.” Dan glanced out the window, having just noticed how dark it had become, apparently they had been talking (arguing, bickering and... flirting?) all afternoon. “What do you guys want for dinner?”

**“CHOCOLATE!”**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments inspire me to write more. So... Pretty please?

**Author's Note:**

> Comments encourage me to write more. So... Pretty please?


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